Hi All,
I'm very new to this forum so if I get stuff in the wrong place or otherwise get the etiquette please, please tell me.
I have recently abandoned Windows (11) and moved to Zorin. I have two monitors on a Lenovo Z50-70 laptop and the setup worked fine under Windows. Under Zorin I can only get one of the monitors to work no matter what I do. I'm hoping some kind soul will help me out please
Thank you
Steve White
Is the second monitor not detected or does it have a wrong resolution?
Do both monitors work when you only connect one monitor?
How are the monitors connected with the laptop?
Hi,
Thanks for replying.
The second monitor is not detected at all. It's as if it wasn't there.
If I connect one monitor at a time it only works if I use the same port, so I disconnect monitor one and then connect monitor two to the same port and it works.
Monitor one is connected to the onboard HDMI port and monitor two is connected via a USB to HDMI adaptor.
I hope that this helps.
Thank you,
Steve
Welcome to the Forum!
Maybe this Adapter could be a Problem. Can You connect it with a 2nd HDMI Port or an available DisplayPort?
Hi,
The HDMI adaptor could well be the problem. It's made in China like everything else these days. The thing is I don't have a second onboard HDMI port or a display port. There is an onboard VGA port but I've tried using this and the results are the same i.e. the second monitor is not detected. Any further ideas?
Thank you,
Steve
Hmm ... You could try an HDMI Splitter but then You can't set up the Monitors seperately. When the Monitors are the same Model it might not be a Problem but if not, this isn't a good Option ...
Maybe a docking station?
Is BIOS Secure Boot disabled?
What graphics does that laptop have?
From what I have seen some versions have Intel, others have Nvidia.
1 Like
The two monitors are identical, purchased at the same time. I'm happy to try a splitter if you think it would help. I also wondered about installing the driver for the current HDMI to USB3 adaptor. What do you think?
It would be at least worth a Try I think. And when it are the same Monitors, it wouldn't be bad when You can't set them up individually I guess.
Is there a Driver for Linux available?
If you could tell us what graphics card you have, we could then look at the problem from that point of view. i.e. find out why can't you use the onboard VGA port.
Hi,
BIOS secure boot is disabled. The type of graphics adapter is a bit weird
as it appears to have at least two.
This is the output from inxi -Fxz
Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: Lenovo driver: i915
v: kernel arch: Gen-7.5 bus-ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: NVIDIA GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/810M/820M / GT
620M/625M/630M/720M] vendor: Lenovo driver: N/A arch: Fermi
bus-ID: 03:00.0
Does this make any sense?
I installed Zorin with the "use modern NVIDIA drivers" option.
Hi,
BIOS secure boot is disabled. The type of graphics adapter is a bit weird
as it appears to have at least two.
This is the output from inxi -Fxz
Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: Lenovo driver: i915
v: kernel arch: Gen-7.5 bus-ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: NVIDIA GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/810M/820M / GT
620M/625M/630M/720M] vendor: Lenovo driver: N/A arch: Fermi
bus-ID: 03:00.0
Does this make any sense?
I installed Zorin with the "use modern NVIDIA drivers" option.
This would need the Nvidia 390 driver which is out of support on Zorin OS 18. The card has no driver, so when you plug in the connection to the monitor on that cards port, there is nothing there to operate it.
Windows OS likely has the driver as Legacy Support built in.
You do have two GPU's - the Integrated graphics by Intel, which is a modest baseline GPU for web browsing and light duties and a Nvidia GF117M which is more rugged for compositing and rendering - but also old.
On Zorin OS 18, in order to get that card working, you must downgrade to the 5.15 kernel.
And then add a legacy repository to supply the drivers
Then install the 390 driver.
I have used a USB to HDMI adapter in the past, on a Windows 11 computer. It did not work for me until I downloaded software to enable the adapter to function. (As I recall, there had been no instructions in this regard, so I had presumed it to be plug-and-play. But not so. After the software install, it worked immediately and reliably (it was for projector.) What is the brand and model number of the adapter?
Yes! Try it, if you can find one for Linux. See comment I left above..
Hi,
Thank you for your detailed reply. Sounds like it's the end of the road for two monitors at the moment until I
(a) downgrade the kernel to 5.15 (which may have unwanted side effects, or,
(b) upgrade my long in the tooth laptop.
I will have to think about that.
Thank you all for your very welcome help
Regards,
Steve
Probably not a major concern. Kernel support deals primarily with hardware. Since the 5.15 kernel is still much newer than your hardware, it is highly unlikely it would have any regressions on your machine.
Upgrading is an option as future proofing, though.
Hi,
I thought I had found one but I was wrong - again!! It's a Benfei adaptor but I can't find which model it is.
Anyway, thank you very much fr your help
Regards,
Steve
Yeah, you're right, the Benfei has the wrong chipset for Linux. Most USB 3.0 → HDMI adapters that work on Linux use the DisplayLink chipset and advertise Linux support explicitly.
Search of specific adapters turns up this:
Cable Matters USB 3.0 to HDMI Adapter model 103046 – uses DisplayLink and is reported working on Linux Mint/Ubuntu with the DisplayLink driver.​
4XEM USB 3.0 to Dual HDMI 4K Display Adapter – specs list OS compatibility including Linux (plus Windows, macOS, ChromeOS).​
Many DisplayLink‑certified USB 3.0 to HDMI adapters from brands like StarTech, Plugable, and Cable Matters work on Linux when you install the DisplayLink Linux driver, even if the product title says “for Windows”.